Everton face fight in hunt for Milan striker Lapadula

Everton face a number of challenges in their pursuit of AC Milan forward Gianluca Lapadula this summer, according to a report from CalcioMercato.

The Italian football news website claim that the Toffees are joined by newly promoted Premier League side Brighton in the hunt for the 27-year-old, who had a hit and miss campaign last season.

However, the report also claims that the player himself is not interested in making a move to England and so both top flight sides face a struggle in convincing him of a potential move.

Lapadula scored eight goals in 27 league appearances last season, although found a place in the starting XI hard to come by, starting just 13 times across all competitions.

The recent arrival of Porto attacker Andre Silva could see the Torino born forward’s game time reduced even more, although it awaits to be seen whether the San Siro based side will be willing to facilitate his departure.

CalcioMercato have also reported that Everton are currently in Italy discussing a move for Lapadula’s team mate M’baye Niang, with the Toffees’ director of football Steve Walsh photographed ahead of a meeting with San Siro officials.

Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio shared the photo on his official Twitter account on Tuesday.

Everton’s summer search for an attacker comes with the departure of star man Romelu Lukaku seemingly imminent, after the Belgian striker was confirmed on Sky Sports’ Twitter account as having reached “an agreement” with an as yet unnamed club at the beginning of June.